


Defiance

by DayenuRose



Category: Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Sort Of, Unconscious Tim, protective Tam, somewhat canon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 00:33:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21262169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DayenuRose/pseuds/DayenuRose
Summary: When Red Robin is injured, it's up to Tam Fox to take care of him. Which was definitely not something Tam had expected to cope with when she was sent to find Tim Drake. If that isn't enough to deal with, Ra's al Ghul makes an appearance. Tam isdefinitelynot prepared for this.





	Defiance

**Author's Note:**

> This story was inspired by another of angel-gidget's lovely sketches. 
> 
> You can find angel-gidget's lovely artwork [here.](https://angel-gidget.tumblr.com/post/188130597237/a-propos-that-drawing-challenge-number-2-with) Do check it out, please, Tam's expression is great!
> 
> ***

Tam stared in mute horror as Tim— No, not Tim. He was in costume which meant she was supposed to call him Red Robin. She didn’t think she’d ever get used to this.  
  
Okay, deep breath. She could do this. She had to. He was counting on her.  
  
Tam stared in mute horror as _Red Robin_ collapsed to the ground—again. He really needed to stop doing that. Since she’d discovered his dual identity, he had seriously spent too much time unconscious (and not in a good way, like sleeping). Though, she supposed, losing his spleen hadn’t helped anything. He was too pale and getting paler. And, now there was the blood—everywhere. She didn’t even know where all the blood was coming from. His blood was definitely seeping into her favourite pink blouse to the extent that she might not ever get the stains out. Maybe Alfred had a few suggestions….  
  
No, right. She needed to focus. Tim—erm, Red Robin needed her because the fate of the world (or, at least the fate of Gotham) was resting on his shoulders. Which meant, at the moment, it was resting on hers.  
  
Oh God. She was not prepared for this. They definitely didn’t teach any of this in her business classes.  
  
Taking a deep breath, Tam prayed Tim might regain consciousness soon. Until then, she was in charge. She could do this.  
  
Tam wrapped her arms tighter around Tim and squared her shoulders. Raising her head, she met Ra’s al Ghul’s cold, eerie stare with a fierce, defiant one of her own. It was the scariest thing she’d ever done. Scarier that the time when she was eight and she confessed to her father that she was the one to break the window, not Luke. Scarier than the time in high school when she had come face to face with Batman after she and Tiffany had snuck out after curfew and had accidentally stumbled onto a crime in progress. (She was certain the Dark Knight would tell her dad.) Scarier than the time she had to wait while Bruce Wayne looked over her business proposal that would make or break her grade with those carefully guarded eyes which gave nothing away. (She still had trouble wrapping her mind around the fact that Bruce Wayne was Batman…how could that be? She’d known that man practically her entire life and had never considered he could be anything more than the playboy billionaire he pretended to be. Did her father know?)  
  
No, none of that mattered now. She couldn’t show any weakness. Not if she wanted to get the both of them out of this situation alive.  
  
Taking a deep breath, Tam managed to speak without a waver to her voice. “You can’t have him.”  
  
The man raised an imperious brow. His unnatural eyes sparked with anger. “What makes you think you can stop me, Miss Fox?”  
  
This wasn’t her first encounter with Ra’s al Ghul. She and Tim had been captured by his minions earlier during this misadventure. Tim had told her, that if she ever had the misfortune of encountering Ra’s al Ghul while alone, she should run in the opposite direction, keep her head down, and wait for the situation to blow over. Good advice, but nothing she could exactly act on now.  
  
“Red Robin is my friend.” Tam was relieved when her voice did not catch. Adrenaline pumped through her veins making her hands shake and the desire to flee spiked to a distracting level. She wasn’t a fighter, not like Tim. “And you can’t have him.”  
  
“His injuries are severe. If you truly cared for him, you would allow him to come with me. I am your only hope of saving him.” Taking a step forward, Ra’s al Ghul placed a hand on the hilt of his sword. He looked down his nose at her like she was nothing more than something foul smelling stuck to the bottom of his very expensive shoe.   
  
Tam bristled. She hated that expression. Instead of being cowed into submission like he had intended, Tam readjusted her hold on Tim and refused to back down. Steel laced her spine and she squared her shoulders. Yes. Tim needed medical attention, but she was pretty certain that not all of the blood drying on his costume was his. She could do basic first aid and during their time together, Tim had been teaching her more advanced first aid. If push came to shove, she’d call Alfred. He’d know what to do. And, she was certain, despite the whole not talking to his family thing, Tim would infinitely prefer her seeking help from Alfred than Ra’s.  
  
“While you hesitate, the boy…”  
  
The man continued to ramble about whatever megalomaniacs prattled on about. Tam blocked out his voice and began formulating her own plan. There was no way she could beat Ra’s if it came to a fight. She wasn’t trained and physically, he was bigger and stronger. She needed to be more clever than him.  
  
Swallowing back the lump in her throat, Tam pushed aside the impulse to say it was impossible. Tam Fox might not be a costumed vigilante who roamed the streets of Gotham, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t just as capable as the rest of the Bat-clan. She might not be the consummate tactician Red Robin was, but she had kept a 4.0 all through college while interning at Wayne Enterprises and managing a full slate of social obligations. She could do this.  
  
Careful not to give away what she was doing, Tam inched a hand towards Red Robin’s belt. She needed a distraction. Discretely searching through the pouches on his belt until her fingers brushed a handful of spheres, Tam retrieved the entire handful and shifted them to her other hand—the one still wrapped around Red Robin. Theoretically, these should be the smoke pellets. Tim had told her that one pellet when cracked would produce enough smoke to fill a room. But, they were outside, and somehow she didn’t think a thin smokescreen would be enough to fool Ra’s al Ghul.   
  
Before throwing the pellets, her hidden hand returned to the belt and her fingers curled around the grapple gun. Tim had shown her how to use it—in case of emergencies. And, if there was ever an emergency, it would be this. Freeing the grapple’s aim, Tam used Tim’s body to hide her movements.  
  
“Miss Fox, are you listening?” A befuddled expression flickered across Ra’s’ face. It was certainly an unexpected look for the man who led an army of assassins. Apparently he wasn’t used to be being ignored.  
  
Tam smirked. “No.”  
  
With all the skill she’d developed over the four years of playing high school softball, Tam threw the handful of smoke pellets at Ra’s al Ghul’s feet. The spheres shattered, releasing thick clouds of acrid smoke. Ra’s coughed as he inhaled a lungful of the foul fumes. To her surprise, he hesitated, giving the cloud of smoke the opportunity to create a thick, opaque curtain between them.  
  
“Sorry,” Tam murmured under her breath at a volume that only Tim could hear her, if he was conscious, “this is going to hurt.”  
  
Pointing the grapple up at the roofline of a nearby building, Tam wrapped her free arm in death-grip under Tim’s arms and across his chest as if his life depended on it—because it did—and shot the grapple. The grapple caught the edge of the roof in a firm hold and the line jerked, nearly pulling her shoulder out of socket. She didn’t dare let go.  
  
As the line reeled the pair up towards momentary safety, Tam prayed this would work. And that Tim would wake up soon. In the meantime, she would take care of him. Because, Tim was her friend and the fate of the world rested on their shoulders.

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea where this would fit in the 'search for Bruce' arc of the Red Robin comics (or, if there is even time for this to happen), but I really liked the idea of Tam staring down Ra's. Despite the messy timeline, I hope you enjoy.


End file.
